LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


GIFT    OF 


Class 


e  15 

GIFT 


SOUND 


BY   JOSEPH   BATTELL 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  MORGAN  HORSE  AND  REGISTER"  IN  3  VOLUMES, 

"AMERICAN  STALLION  REGISTER"  IN  6  VOLUMES,  "ELLEN  OR 

WHISPERINGS  OF  AN  OLD  PINE"   IN  3   VOLUMES, 

"THE  NEW  PHYSICS,"  &c.,  &c. 


224671 


THE  following  article,  which  is  a  complete  demonstration  of 
the  corpuscular  theory  of  Sound  that  no  one  will  ever  be 
able  to  answer  or  overthrow,  was  sent  to  the  Scientific  Ameri- 
can at  New  York,  in  answer  to  a  correspondent,  whose  question, 
wrongly  explained  by  the  editor,  appears  at  the  beginning  of 
the  article. 

We  enclosed  stamped  envelope  with  request  that  our  article 
be  returned  at  once  if  not  used.  After  a  number  of  days  it 
was  returned  with  the  following  note : 

"  Your  letter  of  March  1 7  has  been  received.  It  seems  to  us  that 
your  theory  as  outlined  is  quite  untenable.  MUNN  &  c<^  gec;, 

We  have  been  too  busy  ourselves  to  refer  to  this  until  now, 
but  take  this  opportunity  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Secretary, 
to  our  offer  that  has  been  standing  since  1901,  repeatedly  in- 
serted in  the  leading  journals,  scientific  and  otherwise,  of  the 
world, — and  also  made  permanent  by  insertion  in  The  New 
Physics, — of  $2000,  to  the  first  person  who  can  prove  the  un- 
dulatory  theories  to  be  true,  and  the  scientific  explanation  of 
the  action  of  Sound  in  a  telephone  to  be  true, — which  ex- 
planation the  Scientific  American  here  gives  to  its  correspondent. 

In  addition,  we  will  give  the  Secretary  of  the  Scientific 
American,  who  writes  us,  $500  cash  if  he  can  prove  that  our 
explanation  is  not  true. 

Here  is  an  opportunity  to  earn  enough  money  to  buy  a  good 
house,  or  small  farm ;  and  if  it  was  a  possible  thing  to  prove 


2  SOUND 

either  contention,  there  would  be  thousands  attempting  to  do 
it.  Or  if  the  undulatory  theories  were  true,  the  scientists  having 
been  studying  and  teaching  them  for  years,  should  be  able  to 
demonstrate  them  in  a  few  minutes. 

Of  course  there  will  be  no  response  to  this  offer,  but  the 
farce  will  go  on — worse  than  farce,  the  CRIME, — of  continuing 
to  teach  to  a  vast  number  of  our  youth,  hypothetical  principles, 
which  are  not  only  absolutely  false,  but  in  the  nature  of  things 
impossible. 

Editor  of  Scientific  American. 

DEAR  SIR: — 

Under  "Notes  and  Queries"  in  the  Scientific  American  of  Jan. 
15,  is  a  request  by  E.  R.  S.  (12173)  for  you  to  decide  how 
Sound  is  transmitted  by  telephone.  Your  reply  gives  the  usual 
explanation.  But  is  it  true? 

In  a  work  entitled  "THE  NEW  PHYSICS,"  which  we  have 
recently  published,  we  have  demonstrated  that  Sound  is  cor- 
puscular, composed  of  infinitesimal  particles  of  electrical  matter 
made  by  shock  instantaneously  in  the  colliding  bodies,  from 
which  it  is  conducted  by  the  air,  or  otherwise,  to  the  ears  of 
sentient  beings,  producing  the  sensation  of  Sound.  That  is, 
Sound  is  composed  in  part  of  electricity,  which  unquestionably 
furnishes  it  with  its  moving  force. 

Perhaps  the  fundamental  blunder  in  the  old  theory  was  in 
supposing  that  vibration,  as  in  a  tuning-fork  after  it  is  struck, 
made  sound,  the  truth  being  that  always,  in  such  cases,  it  is 
the  sound  that  makes  vibration. 

Sound  itself  never  vibrates.  It  makes  as  straight  'course  as 
a  running  horse,  unless  impeded ;  with  a  speed  in  air,  as  is  well 
known,  of  about  1090  feet  a  second.  The  vibration  of  the 
prongs  of  a  tuning-fork,  takes  place  because  the  sound  made  in 
the  fork  by  shock,-  is  impeded  in  its  flow,  unable  readily  to  get 


TELEPHONE  3 

out  of  the  fork,  and  therefore,  as  in  the  case  of  echoes,  it  is 
constantly  thrown  or  reflected  from  side  to  side,  thus  produc- 
ing the  vibration. 

Sound  is  a  fluid  as  may  be  proven  in  five  minutes  by  anyone, 
by  placing  the  stem  of  a  vibrating  tuning-fork  upon  a  wooden 
(or  any  other)  conductor.  Immediately  the  sound  will  flow  from 
the  fork  into  the  conductor,  and  be  carried  by  it,  if  in  sufficient 
quantity,  many  rods,  at  a  speed  varying  with  the  quality  of  the 
conductor.  In  conductors  of  certain  kinds  of  wood,  it  will  go 
14  times  faster  than  in  air,  and  therefore  if  the  stem  of  the 
vibrating  fork  is  placed  upon  one  end  of  such  conductor,  and 
the  other  end  is  held  in  the  teeth  of  a  person,  or  placed  in 
contact  with  the  bones  of  the  head  or  body,  such  person  will 
hear  this  sound  fourteen  times  quicker  than  if  it  was  con- 
ducted through  the  air.  This  demonstrates  that  the  sound  is 
made  instantaneously  and  complete  in  the  bodies  struck;  for 
this  sound,  thus  delivered,  has  never  entered  the  air,  although 
'precisely  the  same  as  that  which  goes  from  the  same  fork 
through  the  air  to  the  ear,  each  starting  at  the  same  time. 

The  action  of  Sound  in  a  telephone  wire  is  very  simple;  the 
sound  enters  the  transmitter  and  passes  into  a  quantity  of 
grains  of  carbon,  which,  enclosed  in  a  small  metal  box,  fo'rm  a 
part  of  the  circuit,  and  thence  the  sound  enters  into  the  broken 
or  variable  electric  current,  made  so  in  passing  through  the  car- 
bon, when  instantly  it  is  carried  by  it,  as  saw-logs  are  by  a  river; 
and  this  means  with  the  speed  of  the  stream,  whether  a  river  or 
electricity.  At  the  receiving  instrument  proper  arrangements 
are  provided  for  the  sound  to  leave  the  current.  These  consist 
of  an  insulated  copper  wire  which  forms  a  connection  with  the 
main  wire  and  the  receiving  instrument.  The  sound  is  thus 
delivered  to  the  receiver,  where,  by  the  aid  of  a  magnet  and  two 
helixes  wound  with  very  fine  insulated  wire,  it  emerges  into 
a  small  space  very  close  to  a  thin  circular  iron  diafram,  which 


4  SOUND 

collects  and  reflects  it  to  the  ear  very  similarly  as  a  stove 
collects  and  reflects  heat.  And  this  is  the  function  of  the 
diafram,  nor  can  it  make  Sound  any  more  than  a  stove  can  heat, 
or  a  pipe  the  water  which  it  throws  off. 

The  means  used  to  bring  sounds  into  the  receiver  are  similar 
to  those  used  for  carrying  logs  where  they  are  wanted, — a 
separate  stream  or  channel  into  which  either  logs  or  sound 
can  be  conducted  from  the  main  current  or  stream  to  any  point 
of  destination  desired.  In  either  case  some  artificial  aid  is 
necessary,  especially  if  river  and  wire  extend  further.  In  that 
case  some  of  the  sound  and  logs  go  by,  or  may,  and  some  are 
stopped. 

These  facts  in  regard  to  the  conditions  necessary  at  trans- 
mitter and  receiver  should  be  sufficient  to  decide  the  essential 
nature  of  Sound. 

In  our  scientific  work  "Ellen,"  Volume  II.  of  which  was  pub- 
lished 1908,  we  quote  at  length  from  a  paper  entitled  "Trans- 
mission of  Sound  by  JLoose  Electrical  Contact,"  read  before 
the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh  by  James  Blythe,  M.  A.,  July 
27,  1879,  in  which  Mr.  Blythe  says  (Part  II.,  p.  549)  : 

*  In  a  paper  published  in  the  Transactions  of  this  Society  for  Session 
1877-78,  I  described  an  experiment  which  showed  that  if  a  moderately 
strong  current  such  as  that  from  four  or  five  Bunsen  cells  be  led 
through  two  jam-pots  filled  with  fragments  of  carbon,  and  if  any  sound 
be  uttered  strongly  in  the  one  jam  pot  it  will  be  reproduced  distinctly, 
although  faintly,  in  the  other.  In  this  experiment  it  has  been  found 
that  the  fragments  of  carbon  may  be  replaced  by  any  kind  of  loose 
contact,  such  as  microphones,  or  a  handful  of  screw-nails  put  into  each 
jam-pot,  or  vibrating  springs  beating  against  metallic  stops,  or  nails 
laid  across  each  other  in  log-hut  fashion,  and  that  in  each  case  an  affect 
similar  in  kind,  although  it  may  be  differing  greatly  in  degree,  is  pro- 
duced. Hence  it  may  be  almost  laid  down  as  a  general  experimental 
result,  that  if  an  electric  circuit  conveying  a  tolerably  strong  current 
contain  two  places  of  loose  contact,  A  and  B,  and  if  any  sound  be  pro- 
duced loud  enough  at  A  a  similar  sound  will  be  heard  from  B. 
********* 

'To  all  appearance  this  phenomenon  can  only  arise  from  the  altered 


VARIETIES    OF   SOUND  5 

resistance  produced  at  A  by  the  sound  waves,  and  it  becomes  a  prob- 
lem to  explain  how  this  altered  resistance  at  A  so  affects  the  materials 
in  contact  at  B  as  to  make  them  give  forth  waves  which  convey  a  simi- 
lar sound  to  the  ear.  No  satisfactory  solution  of  this  problem  has  as 
yet  been  given,  and  it  was  in  hopes  of  getting  some  information  on  the 
subject  that  I  made  the  following  experiments.' 


The  experiments  following  are  very  interesting  and  instruc- 
tive, but  altogether  too  long  to  be  repeated  here  as  they  occupy 
nearly  five  pages.  It  would  of  course  be  impossible  to  explain 
any  of  these  experiments  by  the  undulatory  theory  of  sound. 
By  the  corpuscular  they  explain  themselves. 

As  all  the  sounds  of  the  world  are  made  by  the  bodies  of 
the  world,  and  every  different  body  makes  a  different  sound, 
these  bodies  must  contain  the  necessary  machinery  to  do  this, 
and  evidently  this  machinery  connects  with  the  interstices  of 
bodies,  which  in  most  bodies  are  different.  In  the  case  of  uni- 
son vibration  bodies  are  alike,  and  therefore  sound  made  in 
one  body,  under  favorable  circumstances,  will  circulate  in  a 
similar  one,  and  cause  it  to  Vibrate.  The  principle  being  similar 
to  that  which  enables  the  same  key  to  unlock  similar  locks. 

Mills  by  machinery  make  varieties  of  things,  the  difference 
of  which  come  from  the  differences  of  the  machinery  and 
material  used  which  makes  them,  but  this  material  is  distinct 
from  the  mill.  Thus  with  woolen  mills,  silk  mills,  marble  or 
any  kind  of  stone  mills,  mints  for  making  coin,  or  any  kind 
of  factory  for  manufacturing  any  kinds  of  goods.  It  is  self- 
evident  that  things  cannot  be  made  without  material  to  make 
them  of,  nor  can  they  without  the  proper  machinery  to  make 
them.  Neither  is  the  machinery  prepared  to  furnish  such 
material.  Its  part  is  to  shape  or  mix  the  material. 

And  thus  it  is  with  Sound.  It  is  made  by  machinery  from 
material  produced  by  shock ;  and  the  machinery  consists  of 
bodies  causing  the  shock, —  that  is,  the  material  produced 


6  SOUND 

by  shock  is  so  mixed  and  shaped  by  the  bodies  whose  collision 
produces  it,  as  to  make  the  different  varieties  of  Sound.  And 
because  of  its  differences  it  affects  the  soul  differently,  when 
introduced  into  the  body,  as  different  kinds  of  food  or  drink  do. 

All  of  these  laws  thus  controlling  material  things  and  their 
influence  upon  the  spiritual,  are  fixed  and  universal.  Their 
general  nature,  too,  is  easily  understood ;  though  how  or  why 
the  material  should  affect  the  spiritual  as  it  does,  still  remains  a 
mystery.  Apparently  upon  a  sphere  like  ours  it  takes  the 
two  to  make  individual  existence. 

In  all  material  things  there  is  a  succession  of  causes  culmin- 
ating with  the  fundamental  cause,  creation  by  Deity;  and 
this  last  would  appear  to  be  creation  of  a  few  elementary 
substances,  which  by  combination  in  different  proportions  make 
all  the  others. 

The  eminent  French  scientist  Papillon,  who  first  demonstrated 
that  odor  was  corpuscular  (which  previously  like  light  and 
sound  had  been  considered  undulatory),  says: 

"  What,  now,  is  the  chemical  nature  of  the  odorous  principles  in 
plants?  The  chemistry  of  to-day  reduces  almost  all  of  them  to  three 
categories  of  well-ascertained  substances :  hydrocarburets,  aldehydes, 
and  ethers.  We  will  endeavor  to  give  a  clear  account  of  the  constitu- 
tion of  these  three  kinds  of  substances,  and  to  mark  their  place  in  the 
register  of  science.  The  hydrocarburets  are  simple  combinations  of 
carbon  and  hydrogen,  as,  for  instance,  the  petroleum-oils.  They  rep- 
resent the  simple  compounds  of  organic  chemistry.  As  to  aldehydes 
and  ethers,  their  composition  is  rather  more  complex ;  besides  carbon 
and  hydrogen,  they  contain  oxygen. 

******** 

"Independently  of  the  alcohols,  which  are  of  great  number  and 
varying  complexity,  organic  chemistry  recognizes  another  class  of  bodies, 
of  which  vinegar  is  the  type,  and  which  receive  the  name  of  organic 
acids,  to  mark  their  resemblance  to  mineral  acids,  such  as  oil  of  vitriol 
or  aqua  fortis.  Now  every  alcohol,  on  losing  a  certain  amount  of 
hydrogen,  gives  rise  to  a  new  body,  which  is  called  an  aldehyde ;  and 
every  alcohol,  on  combining  with  an  acid,  produces  what  is  called  an 


NATURE   OF   ODORS  7 

ether.  These  rapid  details  allow  us  to  understand  precisely  the  chemi- 
cal character  of  the  essences  or  essential  oils  which  plants  elaborate 
within  their  delicate  tissues.  Except  a  small  number  among  them 
which  contain  sulphur,  as  the  essences  of  the  family  of  crucifers,  they 
all  present  the  same  qualitative  composition — carbon  and  hydrogen, 
with  or  without  oxygen.  Between  one  and  another  of  them  merely 
the  proportion  of  these  three  composing  elements  varies,  by  regular 
gradations,  but  so  as  always  to  correspond  either  to  a  hydrocarburet, 
or  to  an  aldehyde,  or  to  an  ether.  In  this  case,  as  in  almost  the 
whole  of  organic  chemistry,  every  thing  is  in  the  quantity  of  the  com- 
posing elements.  The  quality  is  of  so  little  importance  to  Nature,  that 
while  following  always  the  same  laws  and  constantly  using  the  same 
materials,  she  can  by  merely  changing  the  ponderable  relations  of  the 
latter,  produce,  by  myriads  of  various  combinations,  myriads  of  sub- 
stances which  have  no  resemblance  to  each  other. 

******* 

"  Such  is  the  chemical  nature  of  most  of  the  odorous  principles  of 
vegetable  origin.  But  chemistry  has  not  stopped  short  with  ascertain- 
ing the  inmost  composition  of  these  substances ;  it  has  succeeded  in 
reproducing  quite  a  number  of  them  artificially,  and  the  compounds 
thus  manufactured,  wholly  from  elements,  in  laboratories,  are  absolutely 
identical  with  the  products  extracted  from  plants." 

As  we  have  shown,  sounds,  like  odors,  are  made  from  com- 
binations of  matter,  produced  or  collected  by  shock,  their 
particular  quality  being"  determined  by  the  bodies  colliding,  in 
each  of  which  a  particular  sound  is  produced,  and  always  the 
same  or  similar  sound  by  the  same  or  similar  body. 

It  follows,  as  we  have  also  shown,  that  the  function  of  shock 
is  to  produce  material  from  which  different  sounds — all  sounds 
— are  made.  We  know,  Jtoo,  that  the  differences  of  the  sounds 
— all  sounds — depend  upon  the  construction  of  the  body  or 
bodies,  in  the  collision  of  which  the  material  of  sound  is  pro- 
duced. 

And  thus  the  colliding  bodies  subserve  two  uses,  first,  to 
produce  the  material  from  which  sound — all  sound — is  made ; 
and  second,  to  so  mix  this,  or  shape  it,  that  when  introduced 
into  the  body, — which  is  generally  by  the  ear,  constructed,  as 
any  person  can  see,  so  as  to  catch  or  gather  these  sounds, — 


8  SOUND 

it  will  affect  the  soul  in  a  certain  manner,  every  different  sound 
differently. 

And  this,  as  we  have  said,  is  precisely  what  every  combina- 
tion of  matter  does  when  introduced  in  the  body,  as  illustrated 
by  the  different  things  we  eat  or  drink.  It  is  the  one  and  only  law 
by  which  personal  existence  takes  place  in  material  conditions. 

We  refer  to  the  different  sounds  being  shaped  by  the  differ- 
ent bodies,  because,  as  proved  by  the  effect  of  sound  upon 
water,  these  particles  of  sound  vary  in  size  with  the  pitch.  (See 
"THE  NEW  PHYSICS,"  pp.  234-235). 

The  diafram  will  make  a  very  plain  sound  when  struck, 
which  it  might  possibly  repeat  by  so-called  unison  vibration, 
which  means  that  a  sound  made  by  one  body  under  favorable 
circumstances,  will  enter  a  similar  body  and  cause  it  to  vibrate, 
as  it  did  the  body  in  which  it  was  made.  In  this  case  the  body 
thus  vibrating  in  unison  does  not  make  any  sound,  any  more 
than  a  pond  makes  the  water  which  it  collects  and  throws  off, 
but,  because  of  its  vibration,  may  throw  off  the  sound  that  has 
entered  it,  and  which  was  made  by  shock  and  shaped  by  a 
similar  body  to  itself. 

That  the  diafram,  or  anything  else,  can  make  any  sound 
except  what  it  was  made  to  make,  and  is  furnished  with  the 
machinery  to  make,  cannot  be  entertained  by  anyone  that  un- 
derstands correctly  the  methods  used  by  Nature  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  her  phenomena. 

There  is  but  one  known  law  by  which  material  things  are 
made,  and  this  is  by  a  combination  of  ingredients,  chemically 
and  otherwise.  The  law  is  a  universal  one,  and  unlimited  in 
its  capacity.  For  always  if  something  is  added  or  withdrawn 
from  a  previous  combination,  a  new  commodity  is  made.  The 
character  of  this  law  may  be  easily  perceived  in  cooking,  where 
the  addition  of  even  a  pinch  of  salt  changes  somewhat  each 
article  of  food. 


ACTION    OF   DIAFRAM  9 

The  same  principle  works  in  construction,  whether  of  build- 
ings, or  utensils.  The  connection  of  certain  things  in  a  certain 
way,  always  producing  a  certain  result,  which  is  always  adapted 
to  certain  purposes.  Thus  musical  instruments  are  made 
and  all  other  instruments,  or  machinery.  And  so,  too,  all  the 
phenomena  of  the  material  world,  whether  large  or  small, — a 
planet  or  a  building,  a  flower  or  tree,  sound,  odor,  electricity 
or  a  beam  of  light,  are  formed.  The  physical  eye  cannot 
directly  see  all  these,  though  it  can,  practically,  in  watching, 
their  effects,  but  the  mind's  eye  grasps  the  whole,  that  nature 
has  only  one  law,  that  of  combination,  by  which  the  material 
universe  is  produced ;  certain  substances  being  first  created, 
from  which  all  the  rest  are  made  by  different  combinations. 
And  the  mind,  too,  grasps  this  fact  that  there  is  absolutely  no 
limit  to  the  variety  of  things  which  may  be  created  under  this  law. 

"  Behold  the  lilies,  how  they  grow:  They  toil  not,  neither 
do  they  spin ;  and  yet  I  say  unto  you,  that  Solomon  in  all  his 
glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these." 

A  few  moments  thought  will  show  the  extreme  folly  of  sup- 
posing that  the  diafram,  or  any  other  instrument,  could  repeat 
the  sounds  heard  at  a  telephone.  Theoretically  this  would  mean 
all  sounds,  not  only  those  which  now  take  place,  but  all  that 
ever  did  take  place,  or  ever  will ;  that  it  should  sing  like  Jenny 
Lind ;  or  talk  like  Daniel  Webster,  and  indeed  repeat  all  the 
sounds  of  a  universe  as  perfect  as  they  are  made  in  nature ; 
not  only  every  voice,  but  the  intonations  of  every  voice ;  and 
not  only  this  but  theoretically  again  it  would  have  to  be  able 
to  make  many  of  them  at  the  same  time.  For  the  music  of  an 
orchestra  of  many  instruments  can  be  delivered  by  telephone 
very  perfectly,  at  the  same  time. 

It  would  make  quite  a  job  for  an  ordinary  diafram ;  and  this 
is  supposed  to  take  place  without  any  material  to  make  any 
thing,  or  any  required.  Take  the  tongue  out  of  a  bell,  the  move- 
ment of  the  rope  for  the  creation  of  sound  would  be  in  vain ;  it 


10  SOUND 

being  the  shock  between  the  tongue  and  bell,  that  makes  the 
sound.  There  is  absolutely  nothing  in  a  diafram  to  make  any 
but  one  sound,  and  that  a  very  plain  one,  although  it  can  gather 
sound,  as  a  stove  does  heat,  or  a  pond  water.  The  supposition 
that  it  could  make  sound,  was  made  necessary  by  a  mistaken 
theory  of  the  nature  of  sound,  more  foolish,  if  possible,  than 
the  explanation  it  called  forth.  Certainly,  if  it  was  true,  it 
would  be  a  simple  thing  to  gather  grapes  from  thorns  or  figs 
from  thistles. 

It  is,  then,  evident  that  the  sounds4  heard  at  a  telephone 
must  be  brought  by  the  electric  current  from  the  sending 
instrument,  wherever  that  may  be,  either  with  or  without  a  wire. 

That  this  is  so  is  very  readily  proven,  nor  is  there  anything 
more  remarkable  about  it  than  that  any  substances  should  be 
carried  by  streams.  For  a  few  experiments  will  prove  that 
however  remarkable  it  may  at  first  seem  that  the  voice  or  any 
other  sounds  should  be  able  to  go  through  a  wire,  there  is 
really  no  difficulty  at  all  in  their  doing  it.  They  will  go  through 
a  wire  as  easy  as  a  duck  will  swim.  This  may  be  shown  by 
the  old  box  and  wire  or  string  telephone,  where,  with  very 
little  arrangement,  they  did  do  it.  This  telephone  has  been  in 
use  for  hundreds  of  years ;  the  only  practical  difference  between 
it  and  the  modern  is,  that  an  electric  current  has  been  added, 
which  enables  the  message  to  be  sent  much  faster  and  therefore, 
for  its  life  is  brief,  much  further.* 

*  In  Vol.  II.,  of  "Ellen,"  Part  II.,  pages  613 — 640,  is  a  very  valuable  chapter  of 
various  experiments  and  facts  obtained  by  a  number  of  the  leading  Scientists  of 
Europe,  and  given  by  Count  de  Moncel,  Membre  de  L'Institut,  in  his  book,  "The 
Telephone,  The  Microphone  and  The  Phonograph,"  translated  and  published  by 
Harper  Brothers,  1879.  These  prove  that  a  telephone  without  a  diafram  can  readily 
reproduce  speech.  They  prove,  too,  that  all  explanations  of  the  telephone  which  had 
been  made  to  that  time  were  wholly  unsatisfactory,  the  only  thing  certain,  as  these 
gentlemen  reported,  being,  "  If  you  stopped  the  current  you  stopped  the  Sound." 
This  fact,  as  well  as  all  others  connected  with  Sound,  is  fully  and  most  naturally  ex- 
plained by  the  corpuscular  theory,  but  entirely  unexplainable  by  any  other,  as  repeat- 
edly shown  by  above  experiments. 


TRANSMISSION    OF   SOUND  II 

Supposing  the  sound  in  the  wire,  it  is  impossible  to  see  how 
it  could  avoid  being  carried  by  the  current,  the  same  that  it  is 
carried  by  the  wind.  Experiments  show  that  a  dozen  different 
sounds,  more  or  less  (our  experiments  were  tried  with  three), 
will  run  up  the  point  of  the  finest  needle  to  a  person's  head,  if 
such  needle  point  is  fastened  to  a  deal  stick,  the  other  end  of 
which  is  held  by  the  teeth,  and  the  point  of  the  needle  touches  a 
sounding  board,  upon  which  the  stems  of  that  number  of  sound- 
ing forks  rest.  These  sounds  do  not  mix,  but  each  is  heard  dis- 
tinct, no  matter  where  the  needle  touches  the  board,  but  if  it 
does  not  touch  not  a  sound  will  be  heard.  This  experiment 
proves  that  the  particles  of  sound  are  of  wonderfully  small  size, 
and  is  also  a  demonstration  that  they  exist,  for  if  they  did  not 
they  could  not  ascend  the  needle.  It  makes  no  difference  upon 
what  part  of  the  sounding  board  the  needle  is  placed,  as  the 
sounds  cover  it  as  completely  as  a  stream  of  water  would. 

Perhaps  we  cannot  better  illustrate  the  possible  smallness  of 
such  particles  than  to  quote  a  sentence  from  the  late  address  of 
Sir  Joseph  Thomson,  professor  of  Physics  of  Cambridge 
University,  England,  and  President  of  the  British  Association 
of  Science  in  Canada,  made  lately  before  that  Society  at  Win- 
nipeg. It  will  be  seen  that  he  is  satisfied  that  electricity  is 
corpuscular,  which  hitherto  has  been  considered  by  scientists 
to  be  undulatory.  Mr.  Thomson  says : 

"We  have  already  made  considerable  progress  in  the  task  of  dis- 
covering what  the  structure  of  electricity  is.  We  have  known  for  some 
time  that  of  one  kind  of  electricity — the  negative — and  a  very  interest- 
ing one  it  is.  We  know  that  negative  electricity  is  made  up  of  units  all 
of  which  are  of  the  same  kind ;  that  these  units  are  exceedingly  small 
compared  with  even  the  smallest  atom,  for  the  mass  of  the  unit  is  only 
TrVtr  Part  °f  t*16  mass  of  an  atom  of  hydrogen ;  that  its  radius  is  only 
TV13  centimetre,  and  that  these  units,  "corpuscles,"  as  they  have  been 
called,  can  be  obtained  from  all  substances.  The  size  of  these  corpus- 
cles is  on  an  altogether  different  scale  from  that  of  atoms ;  the  volume 
of  a  corpuscle  bears  to  that  of  the  atom  about  the  same  relation  as 


12  SOUND 

that  of  a  speck  of  dust  to  the  volume  of  this  room.  Under  suitable 
conditions  they  move  at  enormous  speeds  which  approach  in  some 
instances  the  velocity  of  light." 

In  the  above  Prof.  Thomson  admits  that  electricity  is  cor- 
puscular, for  if  so-called  negative  electricity  is  corpuscular, 
positive  electricity  must  be,  and  the  same  must  also  be  true  of 
Magnetism,  Heat  and  Light. 

Thus,  too,  Mr.  William  J.  Hammer,  the  first  man  to  intro- 
duce radium  into  this  country,  in  a  lecture  delivered  before 
the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  and  the  Amer- 
ican Electro-chemical  Society,  said, — we  quote  from  the  New 
York  Times  of  Jan.  23,  1910: 

"Lord  Kelvin,  meeting  Becquerel  shortly  after  the  final  discovery, 
said  to  him  that  the  discovery  of  the  Becquerel  radiations  had  placed 
the  first  question  mark  against  the  principle  of  conservation  of  energy, 
which  had  been  placed  against  it  since  that  principle  was  first  enunci- 
ated. What  reconstruction  it  may  make  in  our  knowledge  of  inter- 
atomic energy  cannot  as  yet  be  even  faintly  surmised. 

"  When  one  considers  the  remarkable  effects  produced  by  radium,  it 
would  almost  seem  that  it  is  matter  tearing  itself  into  tiny  pieces,  and 
projecting  these  infimtesimally  small  particles  through  all  matter  at  a 
speed  from  half  to  even  the  full  speed  of  light,  and  rendering  all  sub- 
stances about  it  radioactive,  and  still  without  appreciable  weight  lost 
in  the  original  substance,  and,  without  disparagement  of  the  accepted 
wave  theory  of  light,  one  naturally  harks  back  to  Newton's  corpuscular 
theory  of  light." 

JOSEPH  BATTELL. 


THE  GRAPHOPHONE  RECORD. 

The  tmdulatory  theory  was  conceived  before  it  was  known 
that  Sound  was  conducted  by  any  medium  except  air.  Even 
under  such  circumstances  it  was  a  very  superficial  and  essen- 
tially incorrect  theory,  because  assuming  that  something  similar 
to  water  waves,  which  are  only  possible  upon  the  surface  of  a 
fluid,  takes  place  in  the  body  of  a  fluid.  And  because  not  in 
accord  with  the  universal  law  of  Nature  in  the  construction  of 
material  things,  whether  sensations  or  otherwise. 

But  when  it  was  known  that  Sound  flowed  in  almost  any 
medium,  and  in  many  much  faster  than  in  air,  the  undulatory 
theory  became  so  monstrously  impossible,  that  the  only  excuse 
imaginable  for  continuing  it  is  repugnance  to  admit  error,  and 
temporary  financial  loss  to  teachers  and  authors  or  publishers 
of  text-books.  This  last  will  remedy  itself  very  quickly.  And 
doubtless  the  study  of  Physics,  when  founded  upon  fact,  will 
become  greatly  extended  and  far  more  remunerative  to  those 
interested  in  their,  instruction. 

There  is  one  lucky  circumstance  in  errors  of  this  kind,  that 
although  they  impede,  they  do  not  permanently  obstruct  the 
advance  of  practical  knowledge.  The  forces  of  invention  and 
improved  scholarship  will  continue  their  triumphs,  both  indif- 
ferent and  regardless  of  errors  that  are  always  retarding 
Science ;  the  result  of  leaders  incompetent  to  lead.  A  similar 
trouble  constantly  occurs  with  armies;  so  that  frequently,  no 
matter  how  large  they  may  be,  nothing  but  disorder  takes 
place,  when  war  comes,  sometimes  for  years  until  a  competent 


14  SOUND 

leader, — there  are  but  few  of  them, — comes  to  the  front.  This 
was  Illustrated  in  the  last  English  war  with  the  Boers ;  the  last 
Russian  one  with  Japan ;  the  last  French  war  with  Germany. 

Then  comes  the  reaction.  Common  Sense  asserts  itself  once 
more,  and  an  era  of  real  discovery  follows. 

"  Good  sense,  which  is  the  gift  of  Heaven, 
And  though  no  science  fairly  worth  the  seven." 

And  therefore  we  have  the  telegraph,  telephone  and  grapho- 
phone,  and  many  other  inventions,  purely  the  result  of  inventive 
genius,  which  gives  but  little  regard  one  way  or  the  other  to  the 
theories  of  Science. 

The  graphophone  is  a  wonderful  illustration  of  practical 
results  obtained  regardless  of  any  theory. 

This,  it  is  true,  can  be  at  once  completely  and  satisfactorily 
explained  by  the  corpuscular  theory  of  sound,  and  by  no  other, 
but  its  invention  did  not  come  from  knowledge  of  that  theory, 
or  any  other.  Like  Topsy  it  grew.  We  should  be  much 
pleased  if  Mr.  Edison  would  explain  exactly  how. 

We  refer  to  it  now,  though,  to  say  that  it  alone  will  demon- 
strate the  falsity  of  the  undulatory  theory  of  sound,  and  there- 
fore of  all  undulatory  theories.  Only  a  substance  of  remark- 
able power  for  its  size  could  make  these  indentures. 

We  know  it  is  done  by  sound,  because  it  is  always  the  result 
of  sound.,  and  this  record,  when  struck,  will  reproduce  the 
sound  that  was  known  to  make  it.  Then  must  sound  be  a  sub- 
stance of  remarkable  power  for  its  size ;  and  as  the  sound, 
which  arises  from  a  single  collision,  for  quite  a  distance  will  fill 
the  atmosphere,  as  illustrated  by  particles  that  pass  from  it 
into  many  ears  situated  at  many  points  in  all  directions,  its 
separate  particles  must  be  infinitely  small. 

But  sound  has  been  proven  to  be  composed,  in  part,  of  elec- 
ricity,  the  most  powerful  substance  of  which  we  have  knowl- 


THE    GRAPHOPHONE    RECORD  15 

edge,  able  when  it  strikes  a  tree  to  rend  its  trunk,  and  thus 
often  killing  it.  Besides  we  know  that  sound,  whilst  it  lasts, 
is  always  moving.  And  therefore  we  can  easily  account  for 
the  fact,  which  is  proven,  that  the  particles  of  such  a  fluid 
carve  such  indentures  in  the  paraffine  and  wax. 

We  find,  too,  by  experiment,  that  it  makes  no  difference 
when  the  collision  takes  place  so  long  as  the  indentures  remain 
intact;  by  shock  they  will  produce  sound,  and  this  sound  every 
time  the  collision  is  repeated,  will  be  similar  to  that  which 
made  the  indentures.  Like  a  piano  that  always,  when  struck, 
returns  the  same  sound,  so  these  indentures,  and  every  other 
sound-producing  instrument,  if  struck,  will  return  the  same  sound. 

That  like  will  produce  like  is  a  ge'neral  law  in  nature,  but 
in  the  graphophone  record  it  is  both  unexpected  and  remark- 
able, occuring  in  sound  carried  to  the  third  generation.  And 
this  means  that  sound  is  composed  of  infinitesimal  particles 
of  matter,  with  such  force  of  movement  imparted  to  them  that 
they  will  produce  a  body,  infinitely  smaller  it  is  true,  but  other- 
wise of  similar  form  or  shape  as  the  body  which  molded  them. 

The  principal  of  a  mold  in  material  things  is  well  known. 
We  copy  from  the  Encyclopaedic  Dictionary : 

"  Mold.  A  general  term  for  patterns  to  work  by,  where  the  outline 
of  the  thing  to  be  made  has  to  be  adapted  to  that  of  the  pattern ;  also 
applied  to  various  things  containing  cavities,  either  for  casting  in,  as  a 
bullet  mold,  or  for  producing  various  forms  by  beating  or  pressure." 

A  mold  to  shape  another  body, — as  for  instance  sound, — 
must  itself  be  of  a  sufficiently  solid  substance  to  impress  its 
form  upon  this  other  body.  And  the  material  to  be  molded 
must  be  sufficiently  plastic  to  receive  it.  And  this  is  the  case 
with  the  graphophone  record.  The  indentures  when  struck 
make  a  sound  similar  to  the  sound  that  made  them,  which 
proves  from  the  principle  that  like  produces  like,  that  they  are 


I 6  SOUND 

similar  to  the  body  making  this  sound ;  that  is,  to  the  original 
sounding  body.  And  we  will  show  later  that  this  similarity 
consists  in  shape  or  form. 

These  indentures  in  the  paraffine  and  wax,  answer  to  molds, 
each  one  a  separate  mold,  which,  when  struck,  repeats  the 
sound  that  made  it. 

From  the  transference  of  records  made  by  sound  upon  a  wax 
disc  to  another  disc  of  different  substance,  by  an  electrotyping 
process,  it  becomes  certain  that  the  variety  of  each  particular 
sound  is  decided  by  the  shape  of  the  colliding  bodies. 

For  they  are  sufficient  when  coming  into  collision  with 
another  body,  as  the  reproducer,  to  emit  sounds,  produced  by 
the  only  law  by  which  sounds  are  created, — shock. 

Nor,  so  great  is  the  principle  of  order  in  the  universe,  in  all 
of  Nature's  laws  are  there  ever  two  ways  to  produce  exactly 
the  same  thing.  In  all  cases  things  may  be  of  different  sizes, 
according  to  the  amount  of  material  that  is  used.  Thus  we 
may  have  what  we  call  a  small  chair  or  a  large  one,  a  small 
table  or  a  large  one,  a  small  candlestick  or  a  large  one.  And 
so  we  can  of  everything.  For  everything  is  of  a  certain  shape, 
and  is  named  after  its  shape,  but  it  may  be  very  large  or  very 
small — infinitely  large  or  infinitely  small.  The  ordinary  grapho- 
phone  indentures  are  very  small  bodies,  and  it  is  impossible  for 
them  to  produce  as  much  sound  as  larger  ones  of  the  same,  or 
perhaps  different  substance.  But  nature  provides  certain  artificial 
aids  in  sound  as  the  megaphone,  or  ear  trumpet;  and  in  vision 
the  telescope  and  microscope  ;  to  make  up  for  such  deficiencies. 

And  this  in  all  cases  is  the  explanation  of  like  producing 
like,  whether  it  refers  to  sound,  vision,  or  the  reproduction  of 
the  species  in  animals  or  plants.  The  same  is  true  with  fruits 
or  planets.  That  is,  the  causes  which  produce  the  same  effects 
are  always  alike. 

Seeds  are  but  minute  arrangements  for  the  growth  of  plants 


THE    GRAPIIOPHONE    RECORD 

or  bodies,  in  either  case  the  growth  being  material,  and  in  all 
their  wonderful  results  acomplished  by  additions  of  matter. 
And  all  material  combinations  affect  the  spiritual.  But  always, 
too,  they  so  affect  the  spiritual,  or  soul,  only  when  they  are 
brought  into  the  body  where  each  individual  soul  resides ;  that 
is,  by  the  great  law  of  contact. 

Molds  are  the  result  of  very  exact  machinery.  In  this  case, 
as  we  have  seen,  sound  forms  the  indentures  so  that  in  certain 
respects  they  will  act  precisely  the  same  in  making  sound  from 
material  made  by  shock  (in  this  case  collision  with  the  repro- 
ducer) as  the  original  body.  And  this  would  be  equally  true 
with  any  body,  making  any  sound.  For  here  we  strike  one  of 
Nature's  universal  laws  that  like  produces  like  ;  nor  is  it  possible 
for  it,  under  same  conditions,  to  produce  anything  else. 

We  will  now  explain  the  method  of  copying  graphophone 
records  made  in  paraffine  and  wax,  by  Sound.  After  long 
continued  effort  this  has  been  satisfactorily  done.  The  process 
we  obtained  from  a  member  of  the  firm  which  manufactured 
them. 

First.  A  graphophone  record  is  made,  using  a  wax-like  disc 
or  circular  plate. 

Second.  The  wax-like  disc  is  coated  with  a  suitable  sub 
stance,  such  as  plumbago,  and  copper-plated  by  electricity. 

The  copper  plate  is  then  removed  from  the  wax,  and 
backed  up  by  some  aluminum  or  zinc  alloy  to  make  it  strong. 

Into  this  copper  plate,  which  acts  as  a  negative,  the  material 
while  it  is  hot,  of  which  the  commercial  records  are  made,  is 
poured  and  then  pressed,  the  pressure  used  being  about  ten 
tons.  By  this  pressure,  a  fac-simile  of  the  original  record  made 
by  sound  is  transferred  to  the  disc  records  of  commerce,  and 
these  are  equally  good  as  the  original  record,  because  an  exact 
copy.  That  is,  they  will  make  the  same  sounds  equally  well. 

In  this  case  we  know  that  the   second   disc   record  is  the 


I 8  SOUND 

same  as  the  first,  made  by  sound,  because  the  second  is  a  copy 
of  the  first  upon  a  negative  plate.  As  this  copy  is  one  of  form, 
and  is  satisfactory  only  as  it  is  accurate,  it  is  proof  that  the 
character  of  sound  is  decided  by  the  shape  of  the  colliding 
bodies,  which  make  it,  each  body  making  the  same,  if  similar, 
and  otherwise  different  sounds. 

It  follows  that  the  first  collision — we  will  suppose  that  of  a 
bell  with  its  tongue, —  produces  infinitesimal  particles  of  elec- 
trical matter,  impressed  with  a  power  of  a  particular  kind  of 
movement. 

It  is  these  particles  which  directly  or  indirectly  make  the 
record.  That  is,  they  so  affect  the  recorder,  that  it  makes 
indentures  of  a  certain  form,  in  the  paraffine  and  wax;  or  else, 
they  drop  into  the  wax  and  make  them  themselves.  In  either 
case  the  operation  can  be  explained  only  by  the  corpuscular 
theory. 

By  the  microscope  it  can  be  seen  that  all  the  indentures  made 
by  the  same  sound,  for  instance  the  letter  A,  are  alike  in  form. 
And  every  one  made  by  another  and  different  sound  will  be 
alike,  but  different  from  the  first.  And  this  is  true  of  any  or 
all  sounds.  That  is,  in  making  a  record,  every  sound  makes  a 
particular  indenture,  which  will  always,  when  struck,  repeat  the 
sound  that  made  it. 

And  this,  as  we  have  said,  is  proof  that  the  character  of 
sound  depends  upon  the  form  of  the  colliding  bodies  which 
produce  it. 

It  does  away,  too,  forever  with  all  undulatory  theories.  For 
it  is  self-evident  that  that  which  carves  bodies  strong  enough 
and  numerous  enough  to  repeat  all  the  sounds  of  the  world, 
in  any  material,  must  be  of  substantial  character.  And  besides, 
as  we  have  seen,  it  is  easily  proven  that  the  scientific  explana- 
tion of  the  graphophone  is  entirely  fallacious.* 

*  See  note,  page  22. 


THE    GRAPHOPHONE    RECORD  19 

Sound  itself  is  a  mixture  of  different  ingredients  of  matter, 
which  is  produced  by  the  blow,  but  molded,  that  is  mixed,  by 
the  colliding  bodies.  And  of  necessity  the  result  is  varied  with 
the  slighest  change  of  the  shape,  which  means  dimensions,  of 
the  colliding  bodies.  For  the  blow  shakes  the  whole  body,  and 
the  material  it  arouses,  and  of  which  every  sound  in  the  universe 
is  made,  is  shaped  by  a  colliding  body,  every  part  of  which, 
whether  small  or  large,  enters  into  action  from  the  effect  of  the 
blow.  And  therefore  as  the  bodies  colliding  are  different,  the 
sounds  are  different.  And  these  changes,  like  those  of  color, 
are  or  may  be  of  the  most  delicate  character.  That  is,  the 
shape  of  a  body  includes  all  there  is  of  it.  But  the  function  of 
shock  is  to  stir  up  whatever  it  hits,  the  whole  of  it.  And 
therefore  the  material  engendered  by  the  blow  varies  with  the 
dimensions  of  the  body. 

We  will  close  this  article  by  quoting  from  "THE  NEW 
PHYSICS,"  pages  230-232,  the  following  passage,  which  itself 
is  copied  from  Vol.  III.  of  "  Ellen." 

"  Ganot  says : 

'A  singular  property  of  bodies  in  a  state  of  vibration  is  that  of 
setting  in  vibration  bodies  at  rest.  Thus,  if  two  tuning-forks,  tuned 
so  as  to  give  accurately  the  same  note,  be  at  some  distance  from  each 
other,  and  one  of  them  be  sounded,  the  other  will  be  set  in  vibration 
and  emit  the  same  note.  But,  if  one  of  the  forks  be  put  slightly  out  of 
tune  with  the  other,  by  attaching  a  piece  of  wax  to  one  prong,  for  in- 
stance, then  the  excitation  of  either  one  will  have  no  effect  on  the  other. 

'  This  phenomenon,  that  a  body  in  a  state  of  vibration  has  the  power 
of  causing  an  independent  body  at  rest  to  vibrate  in  the  same  period,  is 
called  consonance. 

'If  a  metal  wire  freely  suspended  in  the  air  be  tightly  stretched 
and  then  be  set  in  vibration,  the  note  which  it  emits  will  be  feeble.  So, 
too,  a  tuning-fork  when  sounded  gives  but  a  feeble  note ;  but  if  its  stem 
be  held  on  a  table  the  note  becomes  far  louder. 

e  The  reinforcement  of  a  sound  by  attaching  the  sounding  body  to  a 
large,  dry,  elastic  wooden  plate,  called  a  sounding-board,  or  to  a  wooden 
box  surrounded  by  air,  is  called  resonance. 


20  SOUND 

'  Although  the  terms  consonance  and  resonance  are  sometimes  used 
indiscriminately,  there  are  distinctions  between  them. 

'Consonance  is  the  excitation  of  an  independent  body  to  vibrate  in 
unison  with  the  sounding  body ;  it  begins  later  than  the  sounding  body, 
and  continues  after  it  has  become  silent.  Resonance  begins  and  ends 
with  the  sound  of  the  exciting  body.' 

"Sound  is  always  a  fluid  created  by  shock,  as  much  as  rain 
is  by  clouds,  or  streams  by  springs,  and  thus  is  gathered 
in  a  sounding  body  with  the  capacity  of  flowing  rapidly, 
provided  it  can  find  a  channel  to  flow  in. 

"But  when  difficult  for  it  to  leave  the  sounding  body,  its 
action  makes  the  body  vibrate,  thus  constantly  throwing  off 
some  sound  into  the  air,  where  it  instantly  finds  channels  in 
all  directions.  What  cannot  thus  escape  is  held  in  the  sound- 
ing body,  similarly  as  water  is  held  in  a  pond  which  has  no 
outlet,  or  is  partly  held  in  one  that  has;  but  the  life  of  any 
sound  is  brief. 

"  If  the  Sound  in  a  sounding  body,  as  a  tuning  fork,  is  con- 
nected with  any  conductor,  as  by  placing  the  stem  of  the  fork 
upon  it,  it  will  enter  this  rapidly  until  it  has  all  left  the  sound- 
ing-body. Frequently  it  is  thus  conducted  to  sounding-boards 
where  it  is  readily  thrown  off  into  the  air.  Occasionally  it 
finds  bodies  having  the  form  of  the  body  which  made  it,  in 
which  case,  entering,  it  causes  them  to  vibrate,  because  its 
particles  are  fitted  to  circulate  in  them  ;  the  same  general  princi- 
ple by  which  the  same  key  will  unlock  any  lock  similar  to  the 
one  it  belongs  to.  This  it  will  do,  can't  help  but  do,  whilst  it 
lasts,  or  if  reconducted  quickly  enough  to  the  original  sounding 
body  it  would  doubtless  again  cause  that  to  vibrate.  For  these 
are  the  things  it  is  fitted  to  do,  and,  given  any  opportunity,  it  will 
continue  to  do  them ;  but  it  cannot  make  any  new  sound,  or  any 
more  sound,  nor  can  anything  except  shock.  And  therefore  in 
order  to  have  more  sound  we  must  have  repeated  shocks, 
just  as  in  order  to  have  more  rain  we  must  have  repeated 


THE    GRAPHOPHONE    RECORD  21 

showers.  In  all  cases,  too,  where  Sound  is  conducted  away 
from  a  sounding  body,  the  time  it  remains  in  the  body  will  be 
inversely  proportional  to  the  speed  with  which  it  flows  from  it. 

"  Ellen  will  now  call  attention  to  those  things  which  do  take 
place  in  the  repeating  of  sounds,  and  those  that  do  not. 

"  Sounds  are  repeated  by  a  graphophone,  in  accordance  with 
the  laws  governing  Sound.  They  are  not  repeated  by  a  dia- 
fram,  with  reason  enough,  that  they  could  not  be  without  viola- 
ting these  laws,  something  that  never  happens,  except  in  text- 
books. 

"  In  one  case  there  is  an  instrument  made,  that  in  strict  ac- 
cordance with  the  laws  governing  Sound  makes  them.  In  the 
other  there  is  no  such  instrument;  and  the  diafram  couldn't 
repeat  the  sounds  of  the  world,  any  more  than  a  pumpkin 
could,  or  a  beet,  or  a  carrot,  or  anything  else  which  was  not 
made  to  make  them. 

"The  diafram  assists,  as  Ellen  has  repeatedly  said,  in  gather- 
ing and  reflecting  Sound,  as  a  stove  does  heat. 

"A  writer  in  Good  Works,  1878,  page  280,  in  a  long  and 
ably  written  article  on  the  telephone  and  graphophone,  in 
referring  to  the  latter,  says : 

'Once  more  rotating  the  cylinder  the  style  rises  and  falls  as  the  now 
embossed  foil  passes  beneath  it,  and  the  motion  given  to  the  style  is 
communicated  to  the  disc  and  thence  to  the  air  around.' 

"And  Ganot  says : 

'When  this  record  was  passed  again  beneath  the  style  the  varying 
indentations  on  the  foil  caused  the  style  to  vibrate  as  it  did  when  it 
produced  the  indentations,  and  the  diafram  was  similarly  set  into 
vibration,  and  reproduced  the  sound  by  which  it  was  in  the  first 
instance  set  into  vibration.' 

"Nothing  of  the  kind  takes  place.  What  takes  place,  as  we 
have  seen,  is  the  reproduction  or  reappearance  of  the  original 


22  SOUND 

sound,  with  its  peculiarities  and  characteristics.  And  this  is 
infinitesimal  particles  of  matter,  endowed  with  a  power  of 
motion.  The  sounds  are  made  only  by  the  record,  as  may 
plainly  be  demonstrated  by  listening.  They  are  generally  con- 
ducted from  the  record  to  the  diafram,  and  through  this  into 
the  megaphone,  which  introduces  them  where  they  are  heard. 

"That  the  cause  of  reproduction  of  sound  in  a  graphophone 
is  entirely  connected  with  the  record,  may  be  tested  by  anyone. 
For  the  sound  can  be  heard  when  a  reproducer  is  passed  over 
the  record,  although  the  record  is  entirely  disconnected  from 
the  diafram.  Ellen  destroyed  the  diafram  but  the  sounds  were 
reproduced,  the  style  being  pressed  down  upon  the  record. 
All  any  diafram  can  do,  is  to  assist  in  collecting,  and  by  that 
means  increasing  the  effects  of  sounds  made  by  some  sound- 
producing  instrument."4 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  explanation  of  the  action  of 
sound  at  a  telephone  usually  given  in  science,  and  repeated  in 
"The  Americana,"  copyrighted  1904-1906,  and  edited  by  the 
editor  of  the  " Scientific  American,"  is  entirely  a  mistake;  the 
truth  being  that  the  sounds  are  remade  by  the  shock  between 
the  stylus  or  reproducer  and  the  record,  in  accordance  with 
the  laws  creating  sound,  the  previous  similar  sounds  having 
been  entirely  destroyed,  as  most  sounds  are  within  a  few 
seconds,  and  all  within  a  few  minutes  of  their  production. 

We  are    not   especially  surprised   that   anyone   who    could 

*  The  above  experiments  showing  that  the  only  function  of  a  diafram  connected  with 
sound  is  to  collect  and  reflect  it,  as  a  stove,  heat,  were  made  by  Prof.  T.  E.  Boyce, 
now  of  Middlebury,  Vt.,  for  nine  years  Professor  of  Mathematics,  Middlebury  College, 
a  gentleman  unusually  accomplished  and  accurate  in  all  such  experiments;  together 
with  the  author  of  this  pamphlet. 

After  the  diafram  was  disconnected,  Prof.  Boyce  held  the  reproducer  in  his  hand, 
pressing  it  upon  the  revolving  cylinder,  when  the  words  were  plainly  heard,  showing 
that  the  reproducing  of  the  sounds  was  entirely  a  matter  of  shock,  caused  by  the 
reproducer  colliding  with  the  continuous  indentures  upon  the  revolving  cylinder, 
which  indentures  were  previously  made  by  words  spoken  into  the  megaphone  then 
connected  with  the  cylinder  by  the  diafram. 


THE    GRAPHOPHONE    RECORD  23 

make  this  blunder  in  editing  an  Encyclopaedia,  should  be  indis- 
posed to  admit  it.  '  There  are  none  so  blind  as  those  who  will 
not  see.' 

The  above  experiments  by  Prof.  Boyce  and  myself,  which 
can  be  repeated  by  anyone  in  a  few  minutes,  demonstrate 
beyond  any  possibility  of  question,  that  sound  is  made  by 
shock,  its  character  being  formed  by  the  colliding  bodies  which 
make  it. 

In  the  case  of  the  phonograph  or  graphophone  the  sounds 
that  we  hear  are  made,  as  we  have  seen,  by  the  shock  between 
the  indentures  and  reproducer. 

Their  life,  too,  is  very  brief,  but  there  is  nothing  to  prevent 
their  being  repeated  many  times  by  shock,  that  is,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  laws  which  produce  sound. 

And  all  of  this  means  that  we  have  entered  the  kingdom  of, 
to  us,  infinitesimals,  where  light,  colors,  and  sounds  are  manu- 
factured, of  which  light  is  the  most  important,  but  the  others 
very  valuable. 

The  great  Eng1.ish  thinker  and  philosopher,  Locke,  says : 

"  Five  senses  are  universally  recognized  :  Sight,  hearing,  smell,  taste, 
and  touch.  Each  has  its  appropriate  organ  ;  seeing  has  the  eye,  hear- 
ing the  ear,  smell  the  nostrils,  taste  the  tongue,  and  touch  the  fingers 
and  the  body  generally.  Each  sense  has  a  nerve  conveying  the 
appropriate  impressions  to  the  brain." 

And  again  he  says : 

"Our  Senses  conversant  about  particular  sensible  objects,  do  convey 
into  the  Mind  several  distinct  perceptions  of  things,  according  to  those 
various  ways  wherein  those  objects  do  affect  them  :  and  thus  we  come 
by  those  ideas  we  have  of  Yellow,  White,  Heat,  Cold,  Soft,  Hard, 
Bitter,  Sweet,  and  all  those  which  we  call  sensitive  qualities,  which 
when  I  say  the  senses  convey  into  the  Mind,  I  mean,  they  from 
external  objects  convey  into  the  Mind  what  produces  there  those 
perceptions" 

This  last  sentence  is  very  clearly  and  correctly  stated.     The 


24  SOUND 

"  appropriate  impressions"  are  the  substances  which,  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  universe,  were  designed  to  perform  these 
functions. 

The  following  definition  of  sensation  is  from  the  Encyclo- 
paedic Dictionary: 

Sensation:  The  peculiar  property  of  the  nervous  system  in  a 
state  of  activity,  by  which  impressions  are  conveyed  to  the  brain  or 
sensorium.  When  an  impression  is  made  upon  any  portion  of  the 
bodily  surface  by  contact,  heat,  electricity,  or  any  other  agent,  the 
mind  is  rendered  conscious  of  this  by  sensation.  In  this  process  there 
are  three  stages — reception  of  the  impression  at  the  end  of  the  sensory 
nerve,  the  conduction  of  it  along  the  nerve  trunk  to  the  sensorium, 
and  the  change  it  excites  in  the  sensorium  itself,  through  which  is 
produced  sensation. 

From  the  above  it  may  be  seen  how  easily  Sound  is  con- 
ducted to  the  soul  of  man  after  reaching  the  auditory  nerve, 
whether  it  enters  the  body  by  the  ear,  the  teeth,  or  bones  of 
the  body.  The  nerves  are  substantial,  and  abundantly  large  to 
conduct,  and  do  conduct,  the  infinitesimal  particles  of  sound  to 
their  destination  in  animal  bodies,  where,  in  accordance  with 
invariable  law,  they  affect  the  soul  through  the  combinations  of 
matter  of  which  they  consist,  every  change  in  these  producing 
a  proportional  change  in  their  action  upon  spirit 

In  the  case  of  Sound  it  is  proven  that  it  is  created  by  shock, 
its  particular  character  being  decided  by  the  colliding  bodies, 
when,  by  various  routes,  it  finds  its  way  to  the  auditory  nerve, 
and  thence  to  the  brain  of  sentient  beings.  We  have  quoted, 
too,  the  elegant  treatise  upon  odors  by  the  French  Scientist, 
Papillon,  proving  that  they  are  composed  of  carbon  and  hydro- 
gen with  or  without  oxygen, — which  is  now  accepted  by  all, 
although  they  too,  as  well  as  electricity,  heat  and  light,  had 
been  called  undulatory. 

There  remains  Light,  held  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton  to  be  cor- 
puscular, and  was  so  generally  taught  for  about  100  years. 


THE    GRAPHOPHONE    RECORD  2$ 

Newton  was  born  1642  and  died  1727.  Dr.  Young,  by  whose 
alleged  discovery  of  the  law  of  Interference  of  Light,  the 
Undulatory  Theory  was  substituted  for  the  Corpuscular,  was 
born  at  Milverton,  Somersetshire,  England,  June  13,  1773,  and 
died  May  10,  1829.  Chambers'  Encyclopaedia  says: 

*  He  published  in  1802  a  Syllabus  of  a  Course  of  Lectures  on  Natural 
and  Experimental  Philosophy,  in  which,  among  other  things,  he  first 
announced  his  great  discovery  of  the  law  of  the  Interference  of  Light, 
which  by  itself,  as  Sir  John  Herschel  has  remarked,  would  have  pro- 
cured him  a  scientific  immortality.  It  was  this  discovery  which  first 
fairly  turned  the  balance  of  evidence  in  favor  of  the  undulatory  as 
against  the  molecular  theory  of  light.  It  is  Young's  most  important 

contribution  to  Science.' 

******** 

'Young's  doctrine  of  interference  was  at  first  unfavorably  received 
by  scientific  men  in  England ;  it  was  attacked  and  ridiculed  in  the 
Edinburgh  Review;  and  so  little  interest  was  taken  in  the  subject,  that, 
of  a  pamphlet  which  Young  published  in  answer  to  the  Edinburgh 
Review,  only  a  single  copy  was  sold.'  « 

Vol.  III.  of  "Ellen,"  soon  to  be  published,  includes  an  essay 
on  Light,  in  which  this  law  of  the  Interference  of  Light  is 
shown  to  be  a  complete  humbug. 

This  is  true  in  all  the  experiments  in  the  different  physics 
which  are  supposed  to  sustain  the  undulatory  theories,  as 
those  of  polarization.  Every  one  of  these  can  be  explained  by 
established  principles,  and  in  every  case  any  other  line  of  reason- 
ing can  be  proved  to  be  a  humbug.  Take  polarization  or  double 
refraction.  In  both  of  these  experiments  what  happens  is  the 
result  of  reflection,  in  which  in  both  cases  the  reflected  image, 
describes  a  circle  around  the  stationary  one.  In  the  case  of  so- 
called  crystals  the  reflected  image  will  perform  a  complete  circle 
about  the  other,  right  side  up,  if  the  crystal,  with  its  face 
remaining  on,  or  held  parallel,  with  the  paper,  is  turned  around. 

In  the  case  of  so-called  polarization  the  reflected  body 
in  the  upper  mirror  turns  a  complete  somersault,  beginning  at 
the  moment  it  starts  from  a  parallel  position  with  the  lower  one. 


26 


SOUND 


Let  us  suppose  the  body  reflected  is  a  church.  Place  the 
lower  mirror,  B,  (figure  i),  so  that  the  church  can  be  seen  re- 
flected up  through  the  tube,  T.  Place  the  upper  mirror,  A, 
parallel  to  the  lower,  and  the  church,  reflected  from  A,  stands 
erect  like  the  real  church.  But  as  the  upper  mirror  begins  to 
turn  about  the  axis  of  the  tube  from  left  to  right,  the  church 
reflected  by  it  begins  to  turn  over,  and  when  the  axis  of  A  is 
at  right  angles  to  that  of  B  (figure  2),  the  reflected  church 
will  be  lying  upon  one  side  at  right  angles  to  the  real  church. 

And  as  the  upper  mirror  is  further  turned,  the  church,  re- 
flected in  it,  continues  to  turn  over,  until,  when  the  mirror  is 
moved  half  round,  the  doubly  reflected  church  stands  upon 
the  point  of  its  steeple.  Passing  this  point  it  begins  to  right 
itself,  until,  when  it  has  made  one  entire  turn,  and  is  again 
parallel  with  the  lower  mirror,  both  churches  are  once  more 
erect.  The.only  principle  operative  here  is  the  well  known  one, 
that  the  angle  of  reflection  is  equal  to  the  angle  of  incidence. 


Figure  I.  Figure  2. 

And  this  is  the  explanation  of  so-called  polarization  of 
Light.  It  has  to  do  only  with  laws  of  reflection,  and  has  no 
connection  whatever  with  undulatory  theories. 


THE    GRAPHOPHONE    RECORD  2f 

Figure  I  is  an  exact  copy  of  the  one  used  in  Arnot's 
Physics, — one  of  the  best, — to  demonstrate  the  so,-called  law 
of  the  Interference  of  Light. 

Of  course,  in  such  example,  if  the  image  doubly  reflected 
is  diffused  light,  as  is  the  fact  in  the  experiments  referred  to, 
it  will  become  less  and  less  visible  as  the  reflection  of  it 
becomes  more  and  more  nearly  horizontal,  until,  if  the  mirrors 
are  precisely  at  right  angles,  it  may  disappear. 

All  other  experiments  of  this  character  which  have  been 
advanced  as  evidence  of  the  undulatory  theories  are  as  worth- 
less as  these.  And  this  is  the  kind  of  experiment  relied  upon 
to  demonstrate  the  law  of  the  Interference  of  Light.* 

*  In  the  "Encyclopaedia  Metropolitana,"  Sir  J.  H.  W.  Herschel 
speaking  in  the  interest  of  Dr.  Young's  undulatory  theories  says  : 

"  If  the  axes  of  the  fork,  or  the  line  to  which  it  is  symmetrical,  be 
held  upright  about  a  foot  from  the  ear,  and  it  be  turned  round  this  axis 
while  vibrating,  at  every  quarter  revolution,  the  sound  will  become  so 
faint  as  scarcely  to  be  heard,  while  in  the  intermediate  axis  of  rotation 
it  is  heard  clear  and  strong.  The  audible  situations  lie  in  lines  perpen- 
dicular and  parallel  to  the  "flat  faces  of  the  fork,  the  inaudible  at  45° 
inclined  to  them.  This  elegant  experiment,  due  originally  to  Dr. 
Young,  has  recently  been  called  into  notice  by  Weber." 

It  is  true  that  if  a  sounding  tuning  fork  is  turned  about  the 
ear  the  sound  varies,  which  is  explained  by  scientists  as  a  won- 
derful demonstration  of  the  extinguishing  of  sound  waves  by 
the  interference  of  one  wave  with  another ;  and  is  indeed  sup- 
posed to  be  one  of  the  principal  proofs  of  this  undulatory 
theory,  although  the  true  explanation  is  that  Sound  is  thrown 
off  from  the  flat  part  of  the  fork  much  faster  than  from  its 
edges ;  also  when  the  flat  part  of  the  fork  faces  the  ear,  more 
sound  enters  the  ear  and  is  heard,  than  when  the  flat  part  of 
the  fork  is  turned  away  from  the  ear;  for  only  that  sound  is 
heard  which  enters  the  ear.  This,  too,  by  itself,  is  a  demon- 


28  SOUND 

stration  that  Sound  is  composed  of  particles  of  matter.  Thus 
if  the  nozzje  of  a  pipe,  through  which  water  was  being  thrown, 
was  turned  towards  the  ear,  more  water  would  be  thrown  into 
the  ear  than  if  the  nozzle  was  turned  from  it.  It  would  hardly 
be  possible  to  find  anything  more  self-evident. 

We  add  for  reference  description  of  the  Phonograph  taken 
from  "The  Americana  "  : 

"Phonograph,  an  instrument  invented  in  1877, by  Thomas  Edison  of 
Menlo  Park,  N.  J.,  by  means  of  which  articulate  sounds  can  be  regis- 
tered permanently,  and  afterward  reproduced  from  such  mechanical 
register.  The  instrument  as  originally  made  consists  of  a  mouthpiece, 
having  a  stretched  membrane ;  connected  with  the  center  of  this 
membrane  is  a  steel  point,  which,  when  the  sounds  are  projected  on 
the  membrane  through  the  mouthpiece,  vibrates  backward  and  for- 
ward. This  arrangement  is  placed  before  a  cylinder  which  rotates 
upon  a  horizontal  axis.  A  spiral  groove  is  cut  upon  the  surface  of  this 
cylinder,  and  a  similar  spiral  screw  fitted  in  a  knot,  is  cut  upon  the 
axis  of  the  cylinder ;  the  pitch  of  both  spirals  is  the  same.  By  means 
of  a  handle  attached  to  the  axis  the  latter  with  its  attached  cylinder 
can  be  rotated.  The  cylinder  has  therefore  a  motion  of  rotation  and 
translation,  the  latter  being  at  right  angles  to  the  plane  of  rotation. 
The  whole  may  be  set  in  motion  by  clock-work,  electricity,  or  other- 
wise, instead  of  by  hand.  When  the  instrument  is  to  be  used  a  piece 
of  tin-foil  is  laid  around  the  cylinder,  being  kept  close  to  it  by  means 
of  gum  or  water,  and  the  stand  holding  the  mouthpiece  is  brought 
close  to  one  end  of  the  cylinder ;  the  steel  point  of  the  diafram  is  then 
adjusted  so  as  to  be  just  touching,  or  close  to  the  tin-foil,  and  above 
the  line  of  spiral  grooves.  It  will  be  seen,  then,  that  any  movement  of 
the  steel  point  due  to  the  motion  of  the  diafram  will  cause  a  slight 
indentation  of  the  tin-foil,  which  will  by  such  movement  be  slightly 
depressed  into  the  groove  beneath  it ;  and  if  the  cylinder  be  rotated, 
the  steel  point  will,  from  the  pitch  of  the  groove  and  screw  being  alike, 
always  be  over  the  line  of  grooves. 

"  If  the  instrument  be  then  set  as  above  described  and  some  words 
be  spoken  into  the  mouthpiece,  while  at  the  same  time  the  cylinder  is 
kept  in  rotation,  a  series  of  minute  marks  are  made  upon  the  tin-foil 
by  the  movements  of  the  steel  point,  and  the  markings  have  all  an 
individuality  of  their  own,  due  to  the  varying  sounds  addressed  to  the 
mouthpiece. 

"So  far  a  register  only  of  the  sounds  emitted  has  been  obtained,  and 
we  have  now  to  show  how  these  sounds  in  this  manner,  fixed  as  it  were 


THE    GRAPHOPHONE    RECORD  29 

on  .the  tin-foil,  can  be  reproduced.  To  affect  this  the  mouthpiece 
must  be  drawn  back,  and  the  cylinder  rotated  in  the  reverse  direction 
to  what  it  was  at  first,  so  as  to  bring  the  same  part  of  the  tin-foil  with 
which  the  operation  commenced  back  to  the  point  at  which  it  started, 
namely,  opposite  the  steel  point.  The  diafram  with  its  steel  point  is 
then  approached  toward  the  tin-foil  as  at  first,  now  resting  upon  the 
same  point  of  the  tin-foil  as  it  had  previously  first  indented.  The 
cylinder  is  now  rotated  as  at  first,  with  the  result  that  the  small  inden- 
tations or  sound  markings  made  previously  now  act  upon  the  steel  point 
by  causing  it  to  rise  or  fall,  or  otherwise  moved,  as  the  markings  passed 
beneath  it ;  the  result  of  this  is  that  the  diafram  in  connection  with  the 
steel  point  is  thrown  into  a  state  of  vibration  exactly  corresponding  to 
the  movements  induced  by  the  forms  of  the  markings,  and  thus  affects 
the  air  around  so  as  to  produce  sounds,  and  these  vibrations  being 
exactly  similar  to  those  originally  made  by  the  voice  necessarily  repro- 
duce those  sounds  to  the  ear  as  the  words  at  first  spoken.  The  diafram 
in  this  way  acts  as  the  medium  of  transmission  of  sounds  to  be  registered 
on  the  tin-foil,  and  as  the  medium  of  reproduction  of  these  sounds  from 
the  metallic  register  on  which  they  have  been  impressed.  The  strips  of 
foil  can  be  kept  for  any  length  of  time  before  the  sounds  are  repro- 
duced." 

We  have  printed  in  italics  the  lines  above  which  attempt 
to  explain  the  sounds  made  by  a  graphophone  record.  By 
destroying  the  diafram  and  then  holding  the  reproducer  by 
the  hand,  or  otherwise,  so  that  it  will  produce  shock  with  the 
revolving  cylinder,  the  sounds  which  this  musical  instrument 
was  made  to  utter  can  be  distinctly  heard,  which  proves  the 
scientific  explanation  to  be  erroneous,  and  all  undulatory 
theories  to  be  a  humbug. 


IV  TO  Library  in  the  world  complete  without  the  philosophical 
'  novel  "Ellen"  which,  among  many  other  things,  gives  the 
first  and  only  correct  exposition  of  Sound, — including  its  action 
in  a  telephone, — and  also  the  only  correct  explanation  of  the 
operation  of  a  Graphophone  Record,  ever  published.  Vol.  I., 
603  pp.,  Vol.  II.,  900  pp.  Price  per  volume,  cloth,  $2  ;  Morocco, 
full  gilt,  $3  ;  express  or  postage  paid.  Vol.  III.  in  type. 

ADDRESS  : 
AMERICAN  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 

MlDDLEBURY,  VT. 


- 


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REC'DUD 
OCT26 


DEC  1Q  m2 

1  h*y 

17  ?932 

I 

ii 
NOV  1019J37         RECTD 

lDEei-'65-8PM 

LOAN  DEPT. 
SEffTONILL 

JAN30«96 
'U.C.BERKELEY 

DEC   2  1943 
APR  4    1946 


LD  21-50H(-8,-32 


